Is there an appeals procedure to the forum bannings?

[Castanica]

I ask because imo many of the forum bans are ridiculous, it's also killing the activity of this place due to how many active people are being blocked from posting here.

Also yes, I know I'll most likely get banned for asking this but still I think it's warranted.

[BBWallace]

I agree wholeheartedly. I was banned for telling someone to ignore the troll in a thread :|.

[Alhanelem]

Nope. And nothing will convince them to loosen up a bit either. "It's not required to use the service", is what I was told by a GM. Plenty of perfectly good people get banned from both forums for even the most occasional loose lips or less than 100% positive-energy comments.

the GM team also manages the forums, so you can try talking to them, but it's not easy to open a dialogue about it.

(I know some will read this and go "you deserved it" to the ppl in this thread but it is way, way easier than you think to get in trouble here)

[Kjara]

I was banned by the XIV forums for the following 3 strikes:

2013: posting a bot's screenshot without concealing names >>> lead to 24 hours ban
2014: using a gif that has an insult in it ("bitch"), to make fun of myself. >>> lead to 1 week ban
2015: calling someone a "prick". >>> lead to permanent ban

I find rediculous that strikes are cumulative over the course of years. I mean, sure, if I spammed insulting posts day 1, get temp ban, and on day 2 I still do it, then sure. I deserve a permanent ban because I did not learn from my previous mistake. But three whole different mistakes over the course of three years? I feel strikes should reset yearly at the least, especially when they are so different in nature.

The argument that "the service isn't needed" is also pretty loose because there are many things I can't do as a player without forum access: ask devs questions, report bugs, report technical difficulties, and more importantly participate to contests (which have in-game rewards, too!).

I have tried to appeal several times already, but to no avail. I'll probably try again when I see myself missing another good contest item, but who knows...

[Stompa]

When a chocobo is very happy, it will frequently lower its head and stretch its neck out, and then it will wiggle its tail plumage excitedly.

This is how you know that the chocobo is very happy!

Chocobos are not mere beasts of burden. Chocobos are your friends. So it is very important to show the chocobo that you value this friendship.

Has the chocobo had enough fresh greens today? Has the chocobo had its bedding plumped-up properly, so that it is fluffy and warm? These things are very important.

If the world had more happy chocobos, what a wonderful world it would be. There would be no more suffering or strife, if only we showed more love to our chocobos. We could all live in eternal peace and joy, if the world was filled with happy chocobos.

This is my post, which I enjoyed typing. I hope that you enjoyed reading it, and that you have a really super day, and all your dreams come true. Don't forget to spend more time with chocobos, and treat them with love and kindness, and share their feelings of contentment and joy.

:)

[Urmom]

Pretty sure just like ig bans there is basically no repeal other than proving you were hacked or something no matter how ridiculous... I mean someone got banned for reporting the fish bug that DCs you.

[Eradius]

I've heard very many stories of extreme bans for lite stuff on both 14 and 11 forums.

You would think that in a game that is sort of "winding down" like 11 they'd be a lot friendlier to their userbase as far as moderation goes. I sometimes wonder if there's an unknown protocol driving the heavy-handedness.

[BurnNotice]

Just an FYI, I was told the same GMs that monitor XIV forums also monitor XI forums.

In any case, unfortunately, suspensions are cumulative no matter how long ago it was. Especially if its the same negative, repetitive behavior. Couple of things I can agree with is that permanent bans should be abolished and an appeals process should be in place.

Increase the penalties of lockout to as high as 3 months if need be. That is severe enough and plenty of time to give people time to think about their actions.
SGMs should be able to review cases with the account-holder to see if the suspension should be reduced or lift per their case if a ticket is submitted by the account-holder for review. This method should be used for forums and in-game cases.

The goal is to keep the playerbase but at the sametime hold players accountable for their actions. So, I hope the Community Reps and the GMs reading this forum could gauge the interest around this topic to see if it warrants a response.

[Castanica]

Just an FYI, I was told the same GMs that monitor XIV forums also monitor XI forums.

In any case, unfortunately, suspensions are cumulative no matter how long ago it was. Especially if its the same negative, repetitive behavior. Couple of things I can agree with is that permanent bans should be abolished and an appeals process should be in place.

Increase the penalties of lockout to as high as 3 months if need be. That is severe enough and plenty of time to give people time to think about their actions.
SGMs should be able to review cases with the account-holder to see if the suspension should be reduced or lift per their case if a ticket is submitted by the account-holder for review. This method should be used for forums and in-game cases.

The goal is to keep the playerbase but at the sametime hold players accountable for their actions. So, I hope the Community Reps and the GMs reading this forum could gauge the interest around this topic to see if it warrants a response.

This is the problem in my opinion, they overwork their CS teams to the point they have almost no patience and just ban people on the slightest infraction. It's destructive to the community, doubt it's going to change though. I'll stick to redit form now on, as do most others.

[AoiX]

There are policies and rules that have to be followed on any forum for it to work properly regardless of active persons. Offenders should get a warning first tho and if persistent then they should be banned.

[Siviard]

Pretty sure just like ig bans there is basically no repeal other than proving you were hacked or something no matter how ridiculous... I mean someone got banned for reporting the fish bug that DCs you.

I remember hearing about that happening and I thought "what an asinine reason to get banned"!

The person literally found a solution for a problem that was occurring with fishing that was causing people to randomly d/c and posted it. Instead of them saying "Oh! Thanks for finding that solution for us! We'll make the fix right away!" The person got banned instead.

[Dale]

I ask because imo many of the forum bans are ridiculous, it's also killing the activity of this place due to how many active people are being blocked from posting here.

Also yes, I know I'll most likely get banned for asking this but still I think it's warranted.

I've been banned multiple times from this forum myself.

Would be nice if they would ease up some. Due to the anonymous online nature of forums, discussions can rapidly devolve into flame wars which is probably why they are so strict in an effort to prevent that from happening. I still believe it is best to simply allow players to moderate the discussion themselves using the /ignore feature though.

Bans should be reserved for things like spamming or posting personal information of other posters. Things of that nature.

[Castanica]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/